Method of manufacturing a lightweight panel for a vehicle

Abstract

A method of manufacturing a lightweight panel for a vehicle includes a mat fixing operation of manufacturing a first semi-finished product by fixing a mat to each of upper and lower surfaces of a paper honeycomb in a predetermined thickness and a resin spraying operation of manufacturing a second semi-finished product by applying a resin to each of upper and lower surfaces of the first semi-finished product. The method also includes a thermal molding operation of manufacturing a third semi-finished product by thermally molding the second semi-finished product between a heated upper thermal mold and a heated lower thermal mold, a sheet attaching operation of manufacturing a fourth semi-finished product by attaching a sheet molded on an upper surface of the third semi-finished product, and a trimming operation of cutting an unnecessary area of the fourth semi-finished product.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of manufacturing a lightweight panel for a vehicle, the method comprising:
 fixing a mat to each of upper and lower surfaces of a paper honeycomb having a predetermined thickness during a mat fixing operation thereby manufacturing a first semi-finished product;   applying a resin onto each of upper and lower surfaces of the first semi-finished product during a resin spraying operation thereby manufacturing a second semi-finished product;   thermally molding the second semi-finished product between a heated upper thermal mold and a heated lower thermal mold during a thermal molding operation thereby manufacturing a third semi-finished product;   attaching a molded sheet to an upper surface of the third semi-finished product during a sheet attaching operation thereby manufacturing a fourth semi-finished product; and   cutting an unnecessary area from the fourth semi-finished product during a trimming operation.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein an inside of the paper honeycomb provided in the mat fixing operation is machined to a predetermined thickness through milling. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the mat in the mat fixing operation is a fiberglass mat. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the paper honeycomb provided in the mat fixing operation is provided in a state of being machined to be larger than a target size, and wherein the paper honeycomb is molded to the target size in the thermal molding operation. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the resin spraying operation includes spraying the resin from resin spray nozzles disposed to vertically face each other while moving the first semi-finished product between the resin spray nozzles and applying the resin onto the upper and lower surfaces of the first semi-finished product. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the resin spraying operation includes spraying polyurethane onto the upper and lower surfaces of the first semi-finished product. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising seating the second semi-finished product on the lower thermal mold during a seating operation. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein a guide plate configured to guide the seating of the second semi-finished product is installed on a perimeter of the lower thermal mold. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the seating operation includes bringing a side end of the second semi-finished product into contact with the guide plate when the second semi-finished product is seated. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the sheet attaching operation includes bonding the sheet to an upper surface of the third semi-finished product by seating the third semi-finished product on the lower sheet attachment mold, applying an adhesive onto the upper surface of the seated third semi-finished product, attaching the molded sheet to the upper surface of the third semi-finished product, and moving an upper sheet attachment mold downward. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the trimming operation includes trimming a perimeter of the fourth semi-finished product seated on a jig while a water jet nozzle moves along the perimeter of the fourth semi-finished product. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising a sheet molding operation of molding a sheet forming a skin of a panel to a predetermined shape. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the sheet molding operation includes molding the sheet to a shape of an upper surface of a sheet mold by heating the sheet having a perimeter fixed to a sheet fixing frame and moving the sheet mold upward. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the sheet molding operation includes bringing the sheet into contact with the sheet mold by removing air between the sheet and the sheet mold when moving the sheet mold upward to the sheet is completed. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the sheet molding operation is performed before the sheet attaching operation.